Da Suan大蒜
Allii Sativi Bulbus · Garlic Bulb
Overview
Da Suan is garlic, acrid and warm, not classed as toxic but strongly irritant — the one entry in this chapter that is also an everyday food. In the parasite chapter it stands for pinworm and hookworm, given internally and, in the classical pinworm method, as a retention enema of the strained juice; beyond that it resolves toxin, reduces swelling and checks dysenteric diarrhoea. Its activity depends on the compound formed when raw garlic is crushed, so cooking largely spends it. Recorded here as classical materia medica — a suspected infestation needs laboratory diagnosis and a prescribed antiparasitic.
Nature & Flavor
Acrid · WarmChannels
Spleen · Stomach · LungTypical Dosage
5–10 gActions
4 core actions
- Kills parasitesPinworm above all, where the classical method is a retention enema of dilute strained garlic juice at bedtime, and hookworm secondarily. Crushed raw garlic is also the traditional topical for certain skin parasites.
- Resolves toxin, reduces swellingApplied to early boils, sores and swellings, and taken internally as a traditional preventive during epidemics. This is the use that carried garlic into the materia medica in the first place.
- Checks dysenteric diarrhoeaUsed for damp-heat dysenteric diarrhoea, traditionally as raw crushed cloves or a thin garlic congee taken over several days.
- Raw and crushed — heat spends the actionThe pungent principle forms only when the intact bulb is cut or crushed, and it degrades with cooking. Every classical use here — enema, poultice, internal dose — specifies raw garlic. A roasted or long-boiled clove is food, not the drug.
In Formulas
Formulas containing Da Suan
No published formula lists this herb yet — the library is growing.
Indications & Clinical Uses
- Pinworm infestation (classically by retention enema); hookworm
- Boils, sores and early swellings, applied topically
- Damp-heat dysenteric diarrhoea
- Traditional preventive use during epidemic seasons
The parasite indications are confirmed in a laboratory and treated with prescribed medication.
Western Medical Keywords
Searchable condition terms
Contraindications
Cautions
Not classed as toxic, but strongly irritant. Internal ceiling 15 g per day of fresh crushed bulb (9–15 g range); more than that on an empty stomach readily causes burning epigastric pain, nausea and heartburn.
Topical garlic burns. Crushed raw garlic left against the skin causes redness, burning pain and blistering — a genuine chemical burn, not an allergic reaction, and it happens within hours. Apply it briefly, never under an occlusive dressing, never overnight, and never on broken skin or on an infant.
Classical caution: avoid in yin deficiency with rising fire, and in disorders of the eyes, mouth, teeth, throat and tongue, where its acrid heat aggravates. Not for an inflamed stomach or active peptic ulcer.
Medicinal quantities of garlic reduce platelet aggregation; established practice is to stop it around a week before surgery and to be cautious in anyone taking warfarin or another anticoagulant. Enema use is a supervised procedure, not a home one.
Suspected parasitic infection is diagnosed in a laboratory, not from symptoms: a stool ova-and-parasite examination — with serology or imaging where the organism calls for it — identifies what is actually present, and treatment is a modern antiparasitic prescribed by a physician. This entry records the classical materia medica and is not a treatment recommendation.
Contraindicated in pregnancy: Culinary garlic is compatible with pregnancy. Medicinal doses are a different question: a sustained 9–15 g daily dose, a garlic enema, or garlic held against the skin should not be used while pregnant without the obstetric team's agreement, and garlic in medicinal amounts is also best avoided while breastfeeding, where it alters the taste of milk and can unsettle the infant.
For licensed practitioners’ reference only
References
- Ming Yi Bie Lu《名医别录》(classical source, public domain).
2. Bensky, Clavey & Stöger. Chinese Herbal Medicine: Materia Medica, 3rd ed.
3. 《中华人民共和国药典》(2020年版一部).
Professional reference notice. Entries are scholarly references for licensed TCM practitioners and students — not medical advice, and not a recommendation to self-prescribe. Chinese herbal formulas should be used under the guidance of a qualified practitioner. Content is an original editorial compilation by Cura x Cura, cross-checked against the cited references.